The question was open enough to enable students to have different opinions. But the teacher’s feedback was equivocal (“May be may not”) and later the teacher rejected the answer with an explanation that the answer did not focus on the question. I observed that when teachers disagreed, they often offered a reason and explanation for their rejection.
Teachers thought that they were open to students’ questions and students’ feedback. They mentioned some ways they used to encourage active learning/autonomy for the students like ‘empowering' students into questioning and answering, creating question and answer (Q & A) sections, and welcoming students' questions.
For example, ENM Teacher 3 proposed that students learnt by giving feedback to each other:
“I empowered students to give feedback to each other. If students could recognize the good and mistake, and correct themselves, it was very effective learning, I suppose. I just gave feedback after students’ feedback.” (ENM Teacher 3)
ENM Teacher 2 encouraged students to question each other:
“After the presentation of students, I asked others to ask some questions to the presenter. The presenter then had to answer the questions. I want to create a habit of asking and criticizing for students. It is also to create questioning interaction between student and student.” (ENM Teacher 2)
“when a student finishes answering the questions, I let him choose the next group to answer the next questions. Students like the feeling of having a chance to nominate others” (EM Teacher 4)
All the teachers showed in these ways that they welcomed questions from students. Some teachers (ENM Teacher 2, EM Teacher 1) mentioned how they spent time creating a section of questions and answers (Q&A) to sum up the lesson. For instance: “I often had 4 to 5 minutes, called the Q&A section, after each part to let students ask, share or criticize. I tried to keep this routine for every part.” (ENM Teacher 2)
In observations, for example in ENM Class 1, EM class 2, EM Class 3, I noticed questions intended to invite students’ questions:
“Do you understand? Any opinion about the part?” (ENM Class 1)
“Do you have any question?” (EM class 2)
“Do you agree or want to add anything?” (EM Class 3)
However, other teachers (EM Teacher 1, ENM Teacher 4) admitted that time pressure could present a barrier to students asking questions to teacher:
“I felt regret that because of time pressure to complete the lesson, I could not be patient and energetic enough to deal with all student questions” (ENM Teacher 4)
EM Teacher 4 visited each group of students to invite students’ questions:
“Students often feel shy they tend not to make questions in public. So I often come into each group and invite them to make questions... Students often make many questions to me when I come near them.” (ENM Teacher 4)
Teachers believed that making students understand that teachers welcome questions could encourage students to ask more questions.
“Our students feel afraid to challenge the teacher, so they don't ask questions. Therefore, I always clearly state that making questions means they are contributing to the lesson and teachers expect them to ask more” (EM Teacher 1)
They also suggested how teachers could welcome questions by all means:
“They [students] can ask questions directly or write questions on a piece of paper or send email to me.” (EM Teacher 2)
In contrast, students (ENM group 1 and ENM group 4) said that they were reluctant to interrupt the teacher in order to ask questions:
“Teachers often teach nonstop, so it is not convenient for us to stop to make question” (ENM group 1)
In short, teachers believed that they tried to empower students to become active and autonomous through giving feedback, encouraging students to ask questions, and creating Q&A sections. However, some were concerned that time pressure prevented this from happening. Some students also reported that sometimes teachers focused on lecturing and this prevented them from interacting with their teacher.
Teachers and students agreed that good relationships could facilitate teaching and learning. Teachers stated that they tried to build rapport and show respect for their students by making open and polite questions. Teachers believed that they welcomed students’ different opinions, questions and feedback. However, students reported that some teachers were not really open to different opinions offered by students. Questioning, in this sense, performed like a lubricating agent that promoted more effective teaching and learning.
To summarise this section, the teachers and students identified many purposes of questioning. Firstly, questioning could help teacher fulfil their pedagogical goals of eliciting learning and improving attitude to learning. Questioning inspired students to formulate an answer, students had to think, talk, and therefore learn. Secondly, both teachers and students believed that questioning enabled teachers and students to understand their learning progress and therefore allowed them to refine teaching or
learning. Thirdly, they viewed questioning as a guiding tool to promote developing cognition/thinking and organising learning activities. Finally, participants thought teachers used questions to build a good relationship with students. They believed that teachers tried to establish rapport and show respect for students and this could improve student participation. Generally, both participants’ beliefs and practice showed that teachers were aware of their purposes and the teachers used different techniques to motivate engagement.
Summary
Findings identified that questioning was always purposeful. There were four reasons teachers used questioning: facilitating learning, diagnosing learning needs, managing learning, and building relationships.
Teachers used questioning to facilitate learning content and critical thinking. Teachers used questioning to diagnose what students know, to tailor future teaching. Students engaging in questioning could self-assess their learning, to find motivation to try harder. Teachers could use questioning to organise classroom activities and improve learning attitude and behaviours. Questioning was also seen a lubricant, building good relationships between teacher and students, which would facilitate learning and teaching. Therefore, questioning was always targeted, and the underlying/ultimate goal of questioning was to promote teaching and learning.
Observational data revealed a variety of techniques that teachers used in questioning for different purposes. However, while teachers thought that they used questioning effectively to fulfil their pedagogical aims, students did not always appreciate this and sometimes perceived the questioning as stressful and they felt demotivated by it. Also, there were a variety of ways students could respond to questions: individually or in chorus, by volunteering, or by being nominated. These significantly influenced the students’ participation. When selecting volunteers to answer, or nominating students, both teachers and students had the same opinions. Volunteering meant students were active and felt competent. Teachers often used nomination when no student was willing to answer. Nomination often made students feel stressed; therefore, nominated students often felt unable to answer well. Some teachers added
that nomination was a good technique that could grab students’ attention and encourage students to make more effort to learn. Observational data also revealed that teachers were skilled in the use of questioning.
In summary, findings, especially from observational data, show teachers, like artists of speaking, used questioning to encourage learning, grab learners’ attention, direct learners, and gain learners’ respect. There were some differences/distinctions between participants in two faculties. For instance, ENM participants reported business matter was part of the content in questionings, while EM participants said their questioning involved linguistic contents. Observational data reveals that EM participants demonstrated the ability to produce longer and more critical thinking in questioning than ENM students. Except for these distinctions, participants in two faculties both agreed that teachers and students used questioning for different reasons, but the underlying purpose of questioning was to promote teaching and learning.
CHAPTER 6: “MY HOME, MY RULES” Introduction
One of themes emerging from data was “my home, my rules” (a Vietnamese proverb, “nhập gia tuỳ tục”). This proposes that questioning was contextually situated. This section looks at some of the factors, relating to the local context in Vietnam, that influenced questioning, such as the traditional role of teacher and student, questioning with a concern for face or status, and the use of Vietnamese in English classes.
“Without the teacher, students cannot learn”
“Without the teacher, students cannot learn” (Khong thay do may lam nen) is a proverb in Vietnam. Some participants referred to this idea when they reported that traditionally the EFL students were seen as passive or subservient in Vietnamese classrooms. They also reported that the teachers were viewed as having a superior status.
The students as passive participants
Both participants’ reported beliefs and my observations indicated that students tended to be too shy or modest to answer questions, and they rarely asked questions. If they asked questions, the questions were often for limited purposes, like asking permission or clarification. Questions about content were infrequent.
Teachers and students reported that students were shy and modest. They believed this affected how students answered.
“Many students are shy and quiet. They just want to listen to the teacher and others.” (ENM group 4)
“I waited for an answer, but students kept quiet, and I had to nominate someone to make them speak.” (ENM Teacher 3)
However, teachers and students, especially in English major classes, believed that students were able to answer but did not want to show off.
“We were not shy but we did not answer that question because we did not want to show off.” (EM Group 1)
“Students can answer, maybe because they are modest, they don't raise their hand to answer. However, if the teacher nominates them, they answer well.” (EM teacher 3)
According to teachers and students, the reason why Vietnamese students were shy and quiet was cultural (ENM Teacher 1, ENM Teacher 2, ENM Teacher 4, and EM Teacher 2). There were cultural expectations from teachers that:
“Vietnamese students rarely ask questions because they don’t have that habit.” (EM Teacher 2)
“They are first-year students; they are uncomfortable to speak in front of many people.” (ENM Teacher 1)
Similarly, students thought culture played a role in answering:
“Eastern culture appreciates being modest. I really admire students in the western country who are very active in expressing what they believe. However, Vietnamese students are passive and feel ashamed to show off.” (EM group 3)
Furthermore, they did not think it was appropriate for students to argue with or challenge the teacher:
“They do not have the habit of arguing because the teacher is considered always to be right, so they will not challenge the teacher.” (EM Teacher 2)
In short, the participants acknowledged students’ shyness and passivity, and believed that these became barriers to questioning. The participants believed that if students asked questions, their questions were often merely to ask for clarification or to ask permission. Both teachers and students stated that:
“Student questions are often to ask clarification.” (ENM Teacher 3, EM Teacher 3)
“We just ask about new words” (EM Group 3)
Questions from students were not as frequent as questions from the teacher. However, there were several examples of students initiating interaction by asking managerial questions of the teacher and their peers.
The first situation was when a student was about to go to the blackboard and make a brief presentation (EM Class 3). The student actively asked the teacher:
Line Speaker non-verbal data Utterance and Turns Function/ purposes
1 S: Can I use my notes? I Asking for permission
2
T: Yes. R Accepting
3 Be sure that you speak not read. Clarifying